Ever since I’ve peaked over into my late 20’s, I’ve slowly become an advocate of cleansing – The Clean Program cleanse, in particular. After reading Dr. Junger’s book, Clean: Restore the Body’s Natural Ability to Heal Itself
As I continued to research different supplements that I wanted to take for my DIY Clean Program, I thought about how different body cleanse supplements would go along with my cleanse. After spending hours and hours looking through the supplement section at different Whole Foods, comparing different kits from different brands, I decided to forgo the marketing and go generic with the $12.99 Whole Foods brand – here if you use Amazon Whole Foods delivery or here via Amazon Pantry.
If you’re looking for a more structured cleanse and diet plan to pair with the 365 Complete Body Cleanse, check out my post on Day 1: Starting The Clean Program & Grocery List for Clean Living.
How can a cleanse help me?
Before I go too much into my product review, I wanted to give you a better idea of what the Complete Body Cleanse is all about. The next few paragraphs is paraphrased from the Complete Body Cleanse box, and as it turns out, it aligns really well with some learnings from Dr. Junger’s Clean book.
We live in a world that is full of many toxins and pollutants. The toxins from from many sources, including:
- High processed foods and artificial ingredients
- Pollution in our air and water
- Pesticides, fertilizers and other agrochemicals
- Hormones used in foods that we eat
How does the Complete Body Cleanse work?
- Cleansing Fiber Blend: A cleansing fiber blend for safe, thorough, gentle, and effective cleansing. For two weeks, four Cleansing Fiber Blend capsules in the morning and four capsules before going to bed.
- Herbal Regularity Laxative Formula: A gentle, non-stimulant laxative with a soothing herbal blend to utilize the natural water in your body to flush toxins away. For the first week, three Herbal Regularity Laxative Formula tablets before going to bed; for the second week, two tablets before bedtime.
- Milk Thistle Liver Cleanse: Liver support to help eliminate toxins from your liver and gall bladder and support liver function. For the first week, one Milk Thistle Liver Cleanse capsule at night; for the second week, one capsule in the morning and two at night.
Fiber’s key role in Complete Body Cleanse is to absorb and eliminate toxins. The unique fiber blend binds to toxins and removes them from the body. Without fiber, toxins may be re-absorbed into your intestines.
While doing the Complete Body Cleanse, make sure to drink a lot of water and eat a healthy diet. Your body will be working hard, so take it easy and avoid intense exercise. Do gentle stretching or yoga. No doubt, you’ll soon find yourself feeling lighter, cleaner, and more focused.
365 Complete Body Cleanse + The Clean Program
I started using the 365 Complete Body Cleanse the 2nd week into my 3 week cleanse on The Clean program. This means that 1 week prior to me starting the Complete Body Cleanse supplements, I already started eating really clean and only foods that are more easily digestible such as lean meats, whole grains and lots of vegetables. I was also consuming liquid breakfasts and dinners, which helped my body with the detox process because it required less energy for my body to break down the food I was putting into my body.
The Clean Program helped jump start my detoxification. This also meant that as I was taking the 365 Complete Body Cleanse, I was not eating processed foods and didn’t drink alcohol the entire time.
Phase 1 – a whole lot of nothing
During the first few days of taking the 365 Complete Body Cleanse, I didn’t feel much of anything from the cleanse. All I knew was that I was taking an insane amount of pills every morning and night (4 in the morning, 8 at night!). Just a warning, all these pills are pretty HUGE, so if you’re not a good pill taker, that is something to take into consideration.
One thing that I did notice during this time was that while my cleanse kept me on a low amount of food, taking these pills every day, along with an 8 oz glass of water per every 4 pills kept me pretty full. I’m not sure if this means I normally don’t drink enough water, or perhaps if it’s the fiber pills that keep me full. Either way, I think of this as a great bonus.
Phase 2 – regular bowel movements (BM)
Here’s for the nitty gritty part that we all like to hear about any internal cleanse. Even during my first week of eating healthily during my cleanse, my BM wasn’t very regular and it’s usually still hard for me to go, despite how many vegetables I ate.
The Clean Program advises that your BM should come out in a smooth consistency, almost like peanut butter and that it should happen daily.
If you weren’t having regular BM, you were encouraged to take herbal laxatives such as products containing senna or castor oil. Up until I started using the 365 Complete Body Cleanse, I was actually drinking a lot of senna teas, particularly the 3 Ballerina Tea at Asian Supermarkets. I know it says it’s for “Dieters’s”, but the main ingredient is senna, and it is half the price of other American senna teas. It actually tastes pretty similar as well, and the same effects, after comparison.
About 4-5 days into taking the Complete Body Cleanse, I no longer felt like I needed to supplement my cleanse with this tea. In addition, I was having very regular BM, and I didn’t need to “force” it out of my body. The elimination was definitely more solid than when I usually drank the teas, pretty much like the consistency of peanut butter, just like how The Clean Program describes it, as gross as it may sound.
Phase 3 – the positive aftereffects
I just wanted to note that usually my diet is relatively healthy. That is, I eat my veggies, stay away from soda and if I eat chips, candy or other junk food (chips is my weakness though), I won’t eat more than a small personal bag more than once a day. Depending on how your diet is, and how closely you follow the “eat healthy while you’re on the 365 Complete Body Cleanse” instructions on the box, your outcomes will probably personally vary.
Conclusion
So if you were considering trying a cleanse which helps target your internal systems, I would recommend trying this. Even after eating a week on my elimination diet, this cleanse helped me jump-start a deeper part of my cleanse that I wasn’t able to achieve before. Also, these supplements are very very affordable.
